London Lecture Venue Update

If you’re coming to the lectures at King’s College London on Tuesday then you need to head to the Waterloo Bridge Building of the University. The entrance is just south of Waterloo Bridge, up the road from the IMAX. Here’s the Google Streetview image of the building you’re looking for (although we can’t guarantee the cyclist will still be there).

There will be notices up on the doors to direct you to the room where we will be.

 

Still time to buy your YCML ticket!

We’ve still got tickets left for both the London and the Leeds days, so if you want to be challenged to think further and deeper about youth, culture and mission and you want to explore how you can make a difference in the life of a teenager as they struggle to form their identity then this is the day for you. With great input from Dr Crispin Fletcher-Louis, Nigel Pimlott and Rachel Gardner we’ll be exploring the theology of what it means to be created in God’s image, we’ll unpack why it is that our cuture has such a downer on the young and we’ll look at some specific issues that young people face, particularly the sexualisation of youth culture.

You can pay for your ticket by credit card, just click on the link on the left of the screen.

The one thing you are not allowed to call me is beautiful

The one thing you are not allowed to call me is beautiful – says Gemma our foster daughter, yet in truth it’s the word and the meaning that she craves the most. Don’t call me beautiful… but I’m going to fish for you to say it as often as I can.

As followers and reflectors of the God of Love, Christian youth workers, as Paul comments; need to be people that celebrate truth (1 Corinthians 13:6) and truth be told she is beautiful – I don’t make that comment irresponsibly but as a fellow human-being who wants to celebrate the truth of who she is and not the projection that society would place on her.

Youth work needs to a celebration of young people’s identity and worth especially in the highly explorative and vulnerable adolescent years. Whilst I don’t tell Gemma that she is beautiful literally (there are embarrassment boundaries to our relationship) – I do see my ministry to her as affirming and celebrating her beauty as a daughter of God made in his image. My ministry to her is to reinforce the truth that she was perfectly, wonderfully and preciously knitted together – that each hair on her head even if it does change colour on a bi-weekly basis is accounted for.

Seeing and celebrating young people as creations of a loving creator is fundamental – they are not “Daily Mail Youths” but precious sons and daughters paid for at a high price – images of God not the feral blight on society which is so often their description.

The image we have of young people matters, for it underpins the reason why we engage and therefore permeates through our youth work practice – are young people individuals who need correcting or celebrating, redeeming or restoring?

Question: what does your youth work practice communicate about how you view young people?

Andy Burns is the CEO of East to West

Scenes from a Teenage Killing

Last night BBC Four screened a film from director Morgan Matthews, which featured every teenage killing that occurred in the UK during 2009. Whilst the film itself remains on my iPlayer ‘to do’ list, I listened to an interview yesterday which featured Matthews and Shanna Wilson, sister of Shevon Wilson; a young man who was stabbed to death in Bristol in 2009.

Morgan Matthews speaks about his frustration with a media that reports the death of a young man in a ‘generic’ way, with the story ‘reduced to a picture and a few lines using certain language’. The result is that we read about the violent death of a young person and we make certain assumptions about him, and the circumstances of his death. Matthews continues to explain that he believes that people ‘lose some of the sympathy they might have had with the victim’ because ‘ journalists had pieced together a story based on their own assumptions and stereotypes’. As a result we ‘buy into the idea’ that somehow the death of a ‘young black lad, wearing a hoodie, outside a pub’ is not newsworthy.

At ycml we agree with Matthews final comment, that there needs to be a change in the way that the media reports on these kinds of stories.

Nigel Pimlott will be exploring societal sin as part of the ycml day on image. Book your tickets at http://ycml.org.uk

Lecturer Biography – Rachel Gardner

Rachel is co-founder and Director of the Romance Academy, a revolutionary relationships project that builds young people’s self esteem enhanced by sexual delay. The very first Romance Academy was the subject of the BBC2 documentary ‘No sex please we’re teenagers.’

Her work involves training Youth Workers and Peer Educators across the UK to deliver holistic relationships and sex education programmes in schools and community centres. Rachel also runs Romance Academy projects in her local area and teaches PSHE in secondary schools in North London. She is married to Jason and lives in Harrow, North London where they are on the leadership team of a missional church for teenagers and young adults.

She is author of ‘Cherished’, a book for teenage girls and has co-written ‘Rise’ (a discipleship book for teenagers) with Jason. It will be out in March 2011.

Of course I’m on time, I’m a youthworker

I’m a typical youth worker. My desk is a bomb site, my car is full of take away wrappers and coffee cups and I have been known to occasionally turn up to meetings slightly later than the official start time.

At this point you are either nodding your head in agreement, or you’re irritated that I am once again undermining the great vocation of the Christian Youth Worker.

I once heard someone comment that ‘the inside of your car is a reflection of your spiritual life’. It’s a thought that has stuck with me and which I remain challenged by. I wonder whether as we explore the way that the world perceives young people and the image that they hold of themselves, whether we couldn’t maybe think of an overhaul of the image of the Christian Youth Worker. Rather than using our job as an excuse for disorganisation or tardiness, perhaps we could rewrite the rules and change perceptions. When I worked for the Youth Service my line manager reckoned that youth workers were their own worst enemies, because we were hopeless at explaining what we did. We knew that we were changing young people’s lives, but when asked what we actually did more often than not the reply was ‘played a bit of pool’.

So, are you up for it? Join the revolution and all?

I’ll lead the way (once I’ve tidied my desk).

Lecturer Biography – Dr Crispin Fletcher Louis

Dr Crispin Fletcher-Louis is Principal of Westminster Theological College and co-leads the New Wine Training Partnership. He obtained his degree and doctorate – on Angels in Luke and Acts – at Oxford, and has taught theology at three UK universities.

Lecturer Biography – Nigel Pimlott

Nigel works part-time for Frontier Youth Trust, is a Youth Work PhD student and consultant.  He likes writing, thinking and looking for the dancing hand of God in the lives of young people and communities.

Nigel has written several books including the excellent Youth Work after Christendom

Immanuel is for life not just for Christmas

Matthew 1:18-25

Joseph Accepts Jesus as His Son

¹⁸ This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

²⁰ But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

²² All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³ “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

²⁴ When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. ²⁵ But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

As Christian Youth Workers seeking to bring the transformative kingdom of God to young people, how much do we allow our work to be shaped by the name of the one we are following? In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is prophesied to be the one known as Immanuel – God with us. By that very definition our youth work should be transformative through the way we seek to rescue young people from the pits of life by join young people in the pit of their suffering.

Being youth workers who follow Immanuel means that we can’t simply be in the business of processing young people through programmes but people who seek to draw alongside and share life with – not seeing young people as missional objects to be acquired. We need to be youth workers who don’t simply lead young people to the cross but sit with them at the foot of it.

The Book of Matthew is topped and tailed with this reminder and Hope of Immanuel, Matthew 1:23

“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

Matthew 28:20 last verse in the book

And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

From chapter 1 – 28 the Matthew Account of Jesus is framed in the immediacy and intimacy of Christ, the one who is always there for humanity – great in theory a pain in practice as being there is time consuming and often requires more patience than we want to give.

The very name Immanuel says that Jesus sits with us – draws alongside – walks with us – comes with the agenda of life in all it’s fullness – this is the travel companion who longs for young people to know his presence as they journey through life.

Andrew Root, Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry

God became incarnate in Christ not because it best meets God’s goals and desires, but rather because God’s yearnings to be near humanity. This yearning brings God into our places of joy and despair.

Christ draws into relationships this Christmas on the streets with the homeless and the lonely neighbour as well as in the joy of a 4 year old opening their presents at Christmas. This is the Christ who weeps at the tomb of Lazarus and the one with whom the disciples reclined against – this is the one we celebrate at Christmas and the one who inspirers us to be there with young people – to walk towards young people and to journey with them.

Happy New Year and lets make 2011 an Immanuel year of youth work.

Andy Burns is the Director of East to West

YCML 2011 Flier

Here’s a reminder of the link to the flier for this year’s lectures.

Got your ticket yet?